Well, after almost a year of piddling around, I finally finished my teardrop trailer.. I built is specifically for hauling my handicap scooter to car shows and swap meets.. Used it for the first time last week...works perfect, and being able to see all the cars again is just awesome !!! Here are a few pics...and yes some will like the "Theme" and others won't, but I love it. Wanted it to go along with my Car....
That's nice Bob, does the door fold down and form a ramp? I also have mobility problems, I can walk, but any distance or length of time and I become unstable and it gets painful. Definitely takes all the fun out of going to a cruise in, swap meet, or show. Have a mobility scooter I bought used, and I use it when I'm using my truck and trailer to haul a car there. I can use my folding aluminum ramps from Harbor Freight to get it on and off the truck. Lot of extra effort though, as I'd like to be able to just drive the car to a show without the truck and trailer, but if I do that i's a tough row to hoe getting around to see the other cars, etc. OK when I am going to race, have the slicks on my roadster, and would be trailering it anyway to such events as Steel in Motion or Run What Ya Brung, as the scooter can go on the truck along with my other stuff. But when I just want to take either the roadster in street tire trim or my '40 coupe to an area cruise in, that's just too much. Been considering getting one of the new breakdown scooters that come apart into about 4-5 pcs, without using tools. Being able to just put it in the trunk and put it together onsite would be great. Don't much want to put a trailer hitch on my '40 coupe or the '31 Hiboy!
Dave,I Don't know about the hiboy but I built my own hitch for my 40 sedan when we were traveling with the twins,I pulled a glass mullins thousands of miles. Not liking the looks of a hitch I took some flat bar and shaped it to fit the back side of the bumper and used the bumper bolts to attach it. I ran a piece of 2 1/4" square tubing for a receiver below it but it was about a foot under the car so it was really not noticeable when the hitch was removed. I know I have a photo somewhere and when I find it I'll post it or shoot you a PM. HRP
Dave, There is a piano hinge on top in the middle.. The whole back lifts up. Then I use 2x6 ramps (3) to load/unload. It works really slick...and the scooter will pull itself up or back down with me standing along side of it. I too can walk, but not more than about ~40 yards and my bad back and knees just quit, so understand your feeling.. I will look to see if I have any pictures, but I welded in a stub square hitch receiver, then made an adapter to use it to hold my license plate in place when not pulling the trailer. As with all of my projects this is a budget build using scrap steel stuff I had laying around. Most expensive thing was the 3500# trailer axle that I cut down in order to get the correct bolt pattern for my old spare set of Ansen wheels...also no spare required as they match my car.
So I take it you made it to your own specs. I've been pondering building a tear drop style trailer to put a air mattress in to do some traveling around and camp from. I like yours for your purpose it looks perfect. Joe
A trailer hitch, perhaps even with a quick detach so as to not show when uneeded, could be fabricated fairly easily for the '40. But the Hiboy is an "A" on deuce rails, stepped in at back then a fabricated rear crossmember for a transvers spring, then bobbed of there similar to an "A" frame. Nothing behind the crossmember but body tin. Can't attach a hitch there!
Yes I did. I started with a used cheapo bolt together trailer. Put the cut down 3500# axle on the top of the springs instead of the bottom, and went from there.. After I put a flat floor on it I put my scooter on it and built around that.... Here are a few pictures of when I started out..If you look close on the second picture you will see the piano hinge on the top.
THANKS HDONLYBOB the pictures help a lot! Good work did you start with a Harbor Freight fold up trailer? Joe
Looks good, does what you need. Trailer theme makes sense with the car lettering, I imagine you get some double takes going down the road. Banjo on a PA speaker would really drive it home. Is the teardrop all wood, or did you cover it in sheet metal?
Good Idea on the Banjo music.... The trailer sides and floor are wood. The top is 1x2's spaced about 10" apart and I covered them as well as the wood sides with a PVC sign board material that comes in 4x8 sheets....about 1/8th inch thick and will bend (carefully). I have used it for a lot of things before. I did the door panels as well as roof liner with it in my Biscayne.....I like it and it is about ~$60 a sheet.
Thanks for that information! I had looked into using ABS but it was too expensive. I guessed the PVC wasn't going to be strong enough but if you've had good luck with it, I'll take a closer look at it. Great trailer!
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